Angry Exchanges in Debate by Two Republican Hopefuls for Senate

[proud2BlibKansan]

August 10, 2006 | MICHAEL COOPER

The two Republicans seeking to unseat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton clashed ferociously last night in a debate that centered far more on questions of marital infidelity, nepotism and other personal attacks than on what either candidate would do if elected.

Kathleen Troia McFarland, a former official in the Reagan-era Pentagon, repeatedly hammered John Spencer, a former mayor of Yonkers, for having an extramarital affair with a city employee while he was mayor, having relatives on the city payroll, and raising property taxes. Mr. Spencer fought back, accusing her of distorting his record with “lies and innuendos and half-truths” while ignoring her early pledge to run a positive campaign.

“She’s insulted my wife, she’s insulted my children, she’s insulted my military record, criticized my service in Vietnam,” Mr. Spencer complained when he was asked about the tenor of the race. “I do not think that my personal life, or Mrs. McFarland’s personal life, or problems that she may be having, are part of the dialogue that the state and the people of New York care about, or the nation.”

<skip>

“You brought up your wife, and I must tell you that that’s not a personal issue,” she said. “That’s a professional issue. Because when you were mayor of Yonkers, you had an affair with your secretary while you were married to somebody else. You tripled her salary and made her your chief of staff. You were living with her. You doubled your own personal income. You got financial gain from that. And you had two children.”

--snip--

At one point, Ms. McFarland turned to Mr. Spencer and said, “You taxed and spent like Hillary, and you’ve behaved like Bill.”

http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/nyregion/10debate.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26pagewantedQ3Dprint&OP=117dc821Q2FQ2AQ51Q22xQ2AXeQ25sOeeAQ26Q2AQ26uuUQ2AuQ3FQ2A2uQ2A!Q23OQ22Q60_e!Q2A2uXQ22xQ5EAQ22JQ24AH-

[Rainscents]

1. OMG... That is funny!

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Isn't it though?

[TomInTib]

2. Intra-party flameout. They are eating their young...

Damn, those people are hilarious!

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. and they have zero chance of beating Hillary

[Selatius]

3. It's like the Republican equivalent of the Lamont-Lieberman battle

Except they will likely be beaten by the opponent in the general election anyway.

[RB TexLa]

6. Am I the only person in America that doesn't care about people's

extramarital activities? Regardless of who it is, someone I support or someone I oppose. I can't think of any situation it would sway me to vote for or against someone I normally would or wouldn't vote for based on other criteria. Is that just a strange belief now to think it's not any of my business and to have no concern about it?

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. No you aren't, but we are in a minority

I read somewhere recently that after Clinton and his 'escapades', America wanted a president who went to bed next to his wife every night at 9:30. And that is exactly what we got. :)